The Naked Demon
by The Naked Demon
Summary: The Naked Demon will be a story featuring many chapters based on the adventures and trials both Gray and Juvia will have to overcome together after Fairy Tail disbands. I plan to create origins for some of the new powers that appear after the Tartaros Arc as well as rewrite Gray's past to make room for more character development.
1. A New Home

**I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail or it's characters. This fan fiction is an original chain of events following the story of Gray and Juvia based within the time Natsu left for training with a slight change to Gray's past.**

"I will disband Fairy Tail. Go! Go where your beliefs and your legs will take you. That's all there is."

Master Makarov, the short and mischievous master of Fairy Tail stands before his guild members on the destroyed remains of their guild hall. The fight with Tartaros left the town of Magnolia empty and in ruins. Rubble covers the land further than the eye can see, and smoke still darkens the sky after the city's destruction.

Every person in the crowd becomes rather vocal, either shouting or crying, or even both. Normally another guild hall would be built in a matter of hours, so what makes this time any different? Many of the mages within Fairy Tail had been part of the guild since they were only children, and don't know how to live outside the family Makarov helped create.

"Fairy Tail will disband this very instant!" Makarov bellows. The crowd beneath him falls silent. "And don't let me hear anyone of you speak of that name anymore."

Makarov's strong but apologetic voice echoes with his last sentence. The guild stood in the debris of the old guild hall, scared and confused by this news. The pause continues until Makarov sighs and turns away to walk off with immense regret on his face, and shortly after the crowd separated too, never to regroup again.

Among those from the disbanded guild, Gray Fullbuster with his newly acquired power decides without much of a second thought to move on and live in solitude training with the Demon Slayer magic he inherited from his father, Silver Fullbuster. While he is just as surprised and angry about the new situation, Gray was one of the only people who had already made plans to go on a sort of training vacation regardless of the condition of Fairy Tail. He is accompanied along his journey to find a new life by Wendy, Carla and inevitably Juvia, all whom once lived at Fairy Hills a short walk out of Magnolia before it too became condemned. Wendy, looking for a new home, decided to join Lamia Scale to team up with Sherria Blendy; the Sky God Slayer, so Gray offered to guide her to Margaret Town before parting ways.

Stunned by the events of earlier, the team of four leave to the edge of the town to catch a carriage and ride south, each waiting for someone else to be the first to say something.

Wendy sits on a bench waiting for the carriage while curled up in a ball with her knees tucked under her chin trying not to cry. She doesn't cast a shadow under the overcast sky, littered with smoke and dust swirling above the remains of Magnolia.

"It's definitely curious, the way the master disbanded the guild..." Carla says, trying to trigger a conversation.

"Yeah... Even if he was ready to retire, Macau could have just been the master again, I suppose" Gray replies, scratching the back of his head.

"It's going to be hard to be apart from everyone" Wendy sobs with her head hung low. "It'll be so strange to be without the guild and everyone else, especially Natsu, Lucy and Erza" she continues, sniffling her nose.

"You won't miss us, Juvia hopes" Juvia assures Wendy, sitting beside her. "We'll visit any time we are near"

Juvia leans in towards Wendy and grabs her by the shoulder and pulls Wendy's head into the side of one of her breasts to comfort her.

"So, you two will be living together?" Carla asks, pointing up to Gray.

Juvia blushes and can't hide her smile from showing after Carla's rather blunt question.

"What? No! I'm going to train and search for END. I don't know what Juvia's doing. I thought she was going to Lamia Scale with you two" Gray responds, flustered and embarrassed by Carla's question.

"Don't be ridiculous Gray, my Snow Bunny!" Juvia announces, jumping up from the bench and wrapping her arms around him. "Nothing will tear us apart. Not even Fairy Tail breaking up. We will finally live together. It's a dream come true!"

Gray blushes in embarrassment over the new nickname Juvia had just given him. Wendy looks up and giggles in amusement, still coddled in a ball.

"No, don't ever call me that again!" he demands, pushing her away to arms length.

"Aww, but it's so cute though" Wendy teases, wiggling her finger at Gray while laughing.

"Listen, you can come with me, but don't get too comfortable, Juvia. I'll be looking for END, and when I kill it I'll be bringing the guild back together myself!" Gray announces.

Carla smiles with a nod. Although everyone now has to make their own way in this world, they each know how to move on. Still, why Makarov broke the guild up was still the mystery on everyone's mind. The carriage eventually arrives, and with small talk breaking the tension for the duration of the several hour long ride, the carriage finally gets to its destination.

Gray and the three girls all jump out of the carriage and walk towards the center of town. Wendy, now in higher spirits, is excited to see how similar Margaret is to Magnolia.

"Wow!" Wendy shouts, running around as her blue pigtails bounce with every step. "There are so many shops here too! Where is the guild hall? I can't wait to see Sherria again!"

Margaret town is riddled with houses and shops and friendly faces, similar to what Magnolia once was. The cosy town would be easy for Wendy to call a home. Gray looks in silence towards the horizon to see the trail of smoke left by his old home in the distance. The black clouds looming over the Magnolia Ruins are defined and contrast against the red sky behind them as day becomes dusk.

Walking further into town looking for the guild hall, the four Fairy Tail wizards were intercepted by Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints. He stands over the other mages wearing a black kimono.

"Gray, your timing is perfect. It's a coincidence I see you here just as I was leaving for Magnolia." he says. "I'd like to have a word, if you're free. I'm... sorry to hear about the guild."

"It's good to see you again too!" Wendy laughing with a smile on her face. "We were hoping we could join Lamia Scale" She continues, holding Carla in her arms.

"I'm sure the four of you would be able to join if you spoke to Master Ooba. She's in the guild hall" Jura informs Wendy, pointing towards the direction of Lamia Scale's hall.

"Thanks, but Juvia and I won't be staying long. We're just walking Wendy and Carla here" Gray assures Jura.

Wendy runs off towards the guild hall, Carla in hand.

"Have fun!" Juvia shouts.

"And you two as well!" Carla replies, still clutched in Wendy's arms. Jura sighs before looking back to Gray.

"It's time I left the guild here. There have been orders that the Ten Wizard Saints band together to create the new Magic Council. Gray, your own master will be there among the Ten."

Gray stares back at Jura emotionless for a few moments before his eyes light up. Jura simply nods.

"Thank you, Jura. Say hello for me when you get to there. I'll visit soon" Gray says. Jura grunts as he cracks a smile.

"I expect to see the both of you there" Jura says, turning to Juvia. "Between your guild and the dragons in Magnolia, I hardly got to see how much stuff Fairy Tail was actually responsible for destroying this time!" he jokes.

"Wait, The Wizard Saints? So is that where master Makarov went?" Juvia butts in.

"Let's go Juvia... there's nothing else left for us here. Natsu left to go train, and I plan to do the same. I have to master this Demon Slayer magic if I ever want to destroy Zeref and his demons" Gray says with a serious tone. "There's a little place out of town and that's where we are going next"

He turns away from Jura and begins to walk east out of town.

"Of course, Gray! Juvia will accompany you anywhere" she shouts, pumping her fist into the air with a seriously determined look on her face, before running after Gray. "Juvia always be by your side no matter where the future will take us."

A brief walk east brings Gray and Juvia to an isolated settlement by Maragett Town in time for the sun to set. Destroyed buildings and wooden debris litter the area, and there isn't a single other person in sight.

"This place used to be filled with innocent villagers before they were driven out by a dark guild a year ago" Gray says, inspecting the houses. "Of course, it didn't take long before Lamia Scale came to liberate this place, but nobody has bothered to rebuild since. They all sort of just migrated to Margaret Town. This is where I'll be staying, so if you really want to stay too, you can help me rebuild some of these houses tomorrow so we have somewhere to sleep."

"Sleep... together?" Juvia whispers, eyes glimmering.

Ignoring Juvia's aspiration to get in bed with Gray, he stands before the only structure barely damaged and in good condition.

"This is mostly intact. We could stay in this one tonight without the weather being a problem. Tomorrow I'll go back to town for tools and try to find material to put this place back together properly. For now though, this is home. Let's not waste any time" Gray says, pushing the door open and dropping his bags inside the doorway.

Juvia does the same and turns around.

"This place is so cute! We'll finally get to live together, Gray. How romantic!" she squeals, dancing on the spot.

Gray wanders further into the house and holds his arms behind his head. The house contains a dining area, the kitchen, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Though abandoned, the house contains furniture and dishes already and in good condition.

"How did you know about this place anyway?" Juvia asks, following him inside.

"I came through here on a mission to the coast south of here. Back then this place was still alive and full of people. I was getting paid to recover an artefact that over time turned people into demons. Turns out it was a lost artefact of Zeref, so I destroyed it instead. After I found out this place was lost to a dark guild it was always in the back of my mind if I ever needed a place to escape to" he replies, inspecting both bedrooms before choosing one sitting on a bed.

"Listen, Juvia..." he sighs. Juvia looks attentively and deeply into his eyes from the bedroom doorway, waiting for some kind of overdue confession of love.

"It's getting late, so... I don't know. We can start everything tomorrow. I'm pretty tired after spending a good part of today walking. I'm going to sleep. If you feel like cooking something could you try to be quiet?" he asks, laying on his back and fanning his arms out on the blanket.

Juvia giggles with cheeks burning red before hastily stripping down to her underwear and climbing onto Gray's claimed bed on all fours. Gray let's out a long exhale before pulling himself back up and standing to his feet. He begins to unbutton his dark blue shirt from top to bottom and undressing with his back to Juvia as she bites her lip and watches. He drops his shirt on the floor and turns to her.

"Goodnight, Juvia" he says, unexpectedly.

He turns back and walks into the other bedroom, undoing his pants on the way. Juvia, still propped on her hands and knees is now confused and a little embarrassed.

"Um... Gray?" she calls, baiting a response. After no reply she calls out again across the room. "Are you coming back to bed? Juvia is lonely..."

"There's a bed in here. I'll see you in the morning!" He calls from the other side of the house.

Juvia reaches her leg over the edge of the bed and stands up to walk over to the doorway.

"Juvia, I'm too tired. I don't feel like kicking you out so save us both the time and go to sleep" Gray yawns.

Juvia, now upset walks out and peeps around the other bedroom doorway to see Gray laying on his side in bed with his back to her. Never has Juvia been so close to achieving her fantasies with Gray. Scared she will be kicked out for making her move on him, she turns back and dawdles back to her room. Upon walking through the doorway again she notices Gray's shirt at her feet. She hastily picks it up and holds it to her face, discreetly smelling the shirt. She holds it to her chest and falls back onto the bed. Smiling, Juvia clutches the shirt to her chest as she closes her eyes.

Juvia wakes the next day to find Gray standing over her with an evil grin on his face. Juvia blushes immediately as she feels butterflies in her stomach.

"Good morning, my love! Did you sleep well?" Juvia asks, rolling over in her bed and rubbing her eyes.

"Sure" he replies. "I'm going to need my shirt back" he informs her, pointing to the shirt Juvia is laying on top of.

"Oh, um..." she stutters as she tries to think of an excuse.

Her heart almost stops in that moment. She feels like being sick on the spot as the guilt of being caught stealing his clothes is almost unbearable for her.

"So this is where all my clothes go after all those fights I have. How many of my shirts do you even have?" He jokingly interrogates her.

"Um... too many?" She mumbles as she twiddles her fingers together.

"Well that's not overdoing it at all..." Gray chuckles sarcastically. "Remember at the Grand Wizard Games you gave me seven years worth of birthday presents in one day to make up for us being frozen in time? It's dumb, but... I guess it's sorta cute too" he confesses as he yanks his shirt out from under her.

Noticing the insult, it was still the first time Gray had ever called Juvia cute. It was such an overwhelming feeling for her, feeling Gray's attention. After all her effort she put in over the last few years of fighting together she feels more confident than ever around Gray. She jumps up off the bed and wraps her arms around him, still in her underwear.

"Gray thinks Juvia is cute!" she screams.

Gray rolls his eyes before pushing her away once again to arms length.

"So, I was thinking last night and I need to see the new Magic Council. Hopefully we'll see gramps there too. Then I want to go back to Burago in the Northern Continent to visit someone I knew when I was just a kid" he announces, walking to his bags at the front door.

"The Northern Continent!?" Juvia shouts, becoming serious. "It'll take weeks to go there!"

"Does that mean you won't be coming?" Gray asks with a grin.

In a fit, Juvia storms up to Gray and takes her bag from beside his and holds it to her chest.

"You know that's not what Juvia meant!" she pouts with a sour look. Gray chuckles.

"Have a shower, get dressed and finish getting ready. This place has hot water. I've already checked" he assures her. "We're going to Era to see the Wizard Saints"

Gray opens the door to outside, letting sunlight flood the room. The air is fresh and the sky is clear. Perfect for an adventure.


	2. The Big Swap

I **do not own the rights to Fairy Tail or it's characters. This fan fiction is an original chain of events following the story of Gray and Juvia based within the time Natsu left for training with a slight change to Gray's past.**

With new knowledge that the new Magic Council will be reformed with the Ten Wizard Saints, Gray decides to prioritize a visit to the Ten to find information on Makarov and Zeref.

With this new lead, Gray accompanied by Juvia travel Northwest towards Era. Though the pair have a day long walk ahead of them, Juvia is the least bit deterred as long as she is with Gray, while he is determined to speak to the Wizard Saints and begin his hunt.

"This place is beautiful! The wind is gentle here and the trees are so green. What does Gray think?" Juvia asks, spinning as if dancing while walking along Gray. Her open leg skirt flows upward as she performs a little pirouette.

"It's alright, I guess" Gray replies, hardly taking his eyes off the track in front of him.

Fingers of sunlight shine through the leaves of the trees hanging overhead and beam onto the hardened dirt path below creating bright dots on the dark endless road ahead. Birds glide past under the trees filling the air with their chirps and calls. Gray, eagerly marches onward as Juvia, not entirely understanding the need to see the Council at all is instead seen leaping from one dot of sunlight on the path to another. Her long blue hair bounces with every hop, as if she was jumping along stepping stones like a child.

An unexpected sixth sense triggered from his Demon Slayer magic suddenly made Gray feel uneasy, as if he wasn't alone with Juvia anymore. His chest felt heavy and his fingers began to itch.

"Something doesn't smell right..." Gray snarls, stopping as he begins to observe the area.

"It wasn't me!" Juvia declares, straightening her back and quickly catching up to Gray again with an innocent look on her face.

"Someone else is here" he informs her as he drops his bags on the spot and takes his iconic Maker pose.

Aware that Gray is a little more serious than normal, Juvia squats to gently put her bags down before also raising both fists. Gray, now on edge faces the direction of the smell before he hears heavy rustling from some flora behind the tree line.

A figure in the distance snickers and stands from behind a bush. A strange man approaches them wearing a black hooded robe lined with gold embroidery. He raises his left hand to his head and removes his hood, revealing his face.

The man looks young with pure black hair and unnaturally bright blue eyes, seemingly glowing. he grins at the pair.

"My, my... haven't I hit the jackpot today?" He cheers as he steps toward Gray. "Isn't this Gray Fullbuster from Fairy Tail?"

"Who are you?" Gray asks, maintaining his posture.

"Oh, nobody of consequence..." he replies, flourishing his hands past Gray's face and walking toward Juvia. "But I'm sure there's something you could help me with" he continues, leaning towards Juvia.

"What do you want? We don't have time for your games!" Gray snaps.

"Oh, nothing too complicated" he smiles as he steps backward. "You probably haven't heard of me, Gray, but I've heard of you.

"Get to the point before I kick your ass!" Gray demands.

The man stretches his arms out in front of him and takes a pose similar to Gray's, but crosses his arms like an X.

"There's no need to be so hostile. I swear I'm not going to hurt you..." he grins. "SWITCH!" he shouts as light shines from the palms of his hands.

Blinded and disoriented, Gray staggers and falls to his hands and knees. He immediately feels that something is very wrong.

As the light fades he notices things aren't quite the same anymore. His hair is longer and his arms are thinner. He turns to see Juvia, but she is no longer beside him. He turns the other way and sees... himself? Another Gray Fullbuster!

"Gray... you're in my body" the other Fullbuster says.

Gray looks down to see a pair of large breasts hanging from his chest.

"Body swap magic?" he asks with Juvia's voice.

 **For the duration of this event I will continue to refer to Gray in Juvia's body as Gray, and vice-versa.**

"You know, Gray, I could have stolen your body almost a decade ago if it wasn't for that bitch Levy. She was the only reason the dark guilds didn't descend on your precious Fairy Tail. I sent a spell disguised as a work request 7 years ago now that was supposed to switch everyone's body who chose to read it" he informs Gray. "But Levy deciphered it, and became a problem for us. I was going to come in and take the strongest body for myself. My name is Kolya, and your body if finally mine for the taking!"

"I'm not letting you take either of our bodies!" he announces, rising to his feet. "Ice Make Lance!" he shouts as he thrusts his hands forward, only for nothing to happen.

Kolya leans in and laughs at Gray. Frustrated, Gray quickly punches him in the face, only for Gray to hurt his hand. Juvia is not a physical fighter, and consequently doesn't have the muscles to throw a heavy punch.

"You bitch!" Kolya growls, slapping Gray with a backhand. "You will never get your body back! You will be stuck like this forever, unless I choose to kill you first"

"Ice Make Sword!"

A sword of ice as solid as steel appears in Juvia's hand as she swings it upward, leaving a long gash in the man's left arm. He falls back and collapses to the ground on his knees crying in pain.

"How did you do that!?" Gray asks.

"Juvia always watches Gray fight" she replies proudly.

"I... I don't know how to use your magic! Juvia!" Gray panics, looking down to his now feminine hands.

Juvia throws the sword into the air as Gray looks up and catches it one-handed.

"Juvia will protect Gray, because that's what love is!" She declares with enthusiasm.

Gray marches over to Kolya and holds the sword to the defenseless man's chest.

"Turn us back before I make you regret it!" he threatens Kolya.

"You both are forgetting one thing. This isn't my body! I stole it, along with the magic of it's previous owner!" He chuckles.

Kolya reaches out to Gray with his uninjured arm and grabs the blade of the sword. Gray feels the sword vibrate violently as Kolya's arm begins twitching. Instantly, the sword shatters into ice shards and Gray jumps backward.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Kolya groans as he lifts himself up and stands to his feet. "It's vibrational magic. You know, if you vibrate at just the right speed, you can destroy anything you touch? Even magic."

He approaches Gray slowly with his injured left arm cocked to his chest.

"Everything in nature creates vibrations" he continues to lecture Gray while he points to his own ear. "It makes all the noises we hear."

"Ice Make Lance" Juvia shouts from outside everyone's view. She creates a large javelin of ice and fires it at incredible speed at point blank range.

Effortlessly and without breaking eye contact with Gray, Kolya swiftly waves his right arm in Juvia's direction and the ice lance crumples into mist mere centimetres from the palm of his hand.

"I'm unstoppable. This isn't black OR white magic! I can destroy everything around me, and can't be touched" Azreal explains. "Unstoppable force, immovable object"

"It's like the magic Gildarts uses, but harder to intercept" Gray mutters as he steps back.

Kolya clicks his fingers and points back to Gray's direction with his uninjured arm.

"Similar, but not the same. I'm sure I could get his body too while looking like you, Gray. That's why I'm going to kill you, then take your body from her" he announces, referring to Juvia.

Kolya flicks his hand downward as the solid ground below Gray shakes. The road erupts into rubble as large cracks form beneath the mages. Gray looses his footing and falls backward as Kolya quickly swoops in and crouches beside his victim.

"This is such a pretty body you have here!" Kolya shouts loud enough for Juvia to hear.

He places his hand on the forehead of Juvia's body that Gray is currently in. He grins maliciously as his arm begins to vibrate at high speed. Gray reaches up and grabs hold of Kolya's wrist to pull him away but almost instantly Gray is incapacitated by the pain. He cries out as the skin of Juvia's body becomes transparent and wobbles around like water.

"DONT YOU DARE HURT GRAY!" Juvia roars a short distance away in Gray's deep voice.

Her eyes fade in colour and turn red as the whole right side of Gray's body turns black. Her spiked messy hair changes style and flows backward. She falls to one knee and places her fist in her hand. Kolya turns and pulls a face showing both delight and fear.

"Ice Make Geyser!" she shouts, pushing both hands to the ground.

With Kolya already using the only arm he can defend himself with, he simply watches in horror as Ice Demon magic floods the cracks in the Earth below and a large pylon of ice raises from the ground underneath him. Shooting up from under his robe, Kolya doubles over as the ice geyser strikes him in the gut projecting him into the air. As he is sent flying through the air a large bloodstain remains on the head of the ice tower.

Kolya cries out as he flails and begins to fall back to the ground. Without wasting any time Juvia rushes over with immense agility as Kolya plummets closer back to the path below. Juvia reaches up and grabs him from the air by his throat, following the catch with a devastating choke slam. There is a loud CRACK that echoes through the trees as Kolya crashed headfirst into the ground so hard it forms a crater. He lays there with broken bones mangled like a rag doll.

He looks up at her with his bright blue eyes quivering in agony and horror. Unable to move he is defenseless as he coughs up blood. Juvia releases her hand from around his neck.

In the distance Gray rolls over and vomits, rattled by the attack on him.

"You don't look too good" Juvia scoffs looking down at Kolya. "Change us back, and we'll help you live. I know a little recovery magic, and Gray can seal your wounds, but we can't help without our own magic." she negotiates.

She claps both hands before her and conjures a large bow and arrow made from ice. She aims it downward, pulls the sturdy thread of ice and draws the arrow, pointing it point blank at Kolya's leg.

"Decline, and I'll make you suffer" she threatens him. "You hurt my dear Gray, and now I'll..." she says before being interrupted by Kolya.

"Okay..." he coughs.

Juvia raises her chin while still looking down on him. Eventually the bow in her hand crumples away as she turns around to fetch Gray. The black markings covering her revert back to the Demon Slayer marking on her arm. She squats down beside Gray and puts her arm around him.

"Juvia is upset that Gray couldn't use water magic. Are you still feeling sick?" she asks.

"Nah, I'm good now. It's pretty weird being helped by myself. Thanks for putting him in his place" he grunts as Juvia helps him to his feet.

The both of them walk back over to Kolya as he musters the strength to raise one arm.

"Don't you dare try to become one of us" Juvia threatens as she forms a fist covered with shards of ice.

Kolya holds out two fingers from his raised hand, pointing toward each mage respectively.

"Switch" he gasps.

A bright light shines once more from his hand blinding Gray and Juvia. Gray staggers and falls to his knees. He feels different again, and as the light dims he is happy to find he is back in his own skin. He smiles and turns to Juvia who is on her hands and knees gagging.

"Ugh, tastes like vomit!"

Gray stands to stretch his muscles and gets the feel for his own body again. Looking down he notices Kolya is unresponsive after using the last of his strength.

"Let's go before he wakes up. Guy was a dick." Gray decides.

"Juvia said she would help" she says crawling beside Kolya and grabbing him by the collar of his robe.

Kolya's blood seeps through the front of his outfit as he continues to bleed out of his stomach from Juvia's attack. She rips open the front his clothes down the middle and exposes Kolya's torso. The flesh over his stomach is torn and he has many broken ribs.

Gray sighs before leaning over Kolya and sealing his wounds with ice. Juvia follows by holding her hand over Kolya. Her skin becomes see-through and she brushes over his injuries. In a matter of seconds the swelling around Kolya's body is reduced while she gets rid of any risks of infection, cleaning his lacerations and wounds. She stands up and dusts herself off.

"Juvia can't help broken bones" she says looking to Gray.

"He deserves it. We've done enough. I don't want to stick around this guy any longer than I have to" Gray replies.

Regretfully, Juvia agrees and walks away to pick up the bags they both dropped earlier.

"Is Gray hurt?" she inquires with a concerned look.

"No, I'm fine. How's your head?" he asks while taking his bag from her hands

"It doesn't really hurt much now, but it looked painful for you" she responds.

He grunts, turning the other way and continuing on their original path to Era. Having done what they can to keep the mysterious Kolya the dark mage alive, they resume their day long march.

After a brief moment walking, Juvia smiles.

"Hey Gray?" she asks.

"Yes, Juvia?" he replies, walking shoulder to shoulder with her.

"I want you inside me again" she says jokingly while blushing.

Gray exhales disapprovingly at her innuendo.

"He said he steals people's bodies. He's probably older than Zeref for all we know, but just keeps stealing the bodies to stay young" he theorises.

"We aren't murderers though. We couldn't let him die there" she announces.

"Yeah, I know" Gray sighs. "You fought pretty well out there."

"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, my little Snow Bunny" he assures him.

Gray hangs his head in embarrassment.

"Don't call me that. I had trouble trying to use your water magic" he snaps. "But you used Maker magic like a natural."

Juvia smiles and reaches over to hold Gray's hand in her own as they walk side by side, before Gray promptly tugs his hand away from hers.

Several more hours pass as day turns to dusk and the pair's tour through Fiore eventually brings them to Era; home of the Magic Council.

The Magic Council building towers over Era on a mountain in the center of the donut shaped city.

"This is it" Gray says, turning to Juvia.

"This is where Makarov is supposed to be?" she asks.

"Yeah. Here's to hoping..." Gray replies as they both begin their ascension to the summit.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Juvia inquires.

"Well, there's a few people here I'd like to speak to. I'm hoping to find information on Zeref and figure out why Makarov broke up Fairy Tail, then there's the matter of an old friend who might be here too" he responds. "If I get everything I need, we can head straight for Burago. Then we're going home again to train."

The closer they get to Era's summit the better a view Juvia catches of the city below. It's something truly marvellous, and she's glad it's something she gets to share with Gray. The sky glows crimson as the sun sets behind the horizon far beyond the edge of the golden lit city.

Arriving at the top of the mountain and the foot of the Magic Council, they are both greeted by a familiar, but forgettable face.

A man stands before Gray and Juvia, waving to them. He wears a sleeveless shirt with a high collar, has black messy hair and a large cross scar on his face.

"Hey... you" Gray calls, unsure of the man's identity.

"Mest!" He shouts, running down the stairs from the Council doors. "We went to Tenrou Island together. My name is Mest. It's good to see familiar faces from the guild. What brings you here?" He prods.

"Can I come in? I was invited by Jura" Gray asks.

"Er... sure" Mest replies, looking behind him to the building. "Today was supposed to be busy with the start of council business, but most of the Wizard Saints haven't arrived yet" Mest informs Gray, leading them both inside.

The Magic Council is more like a palace than a government building with all it's art, high ceilings and waxed floors. Despite how large it seems from the outside, the Council building feels so much bigger from the inside.

"Can you lead us to Master Makarov?" Juvia asks Mest.

"No. Nobody has seen him since you guys chased Acnologia off last week. He's one of the Ten Wizards that are yet to arrive" Mest says, stopping in the Magic Council grand hall.

The grand hall is an enormous room with a 12 seated rectangle table in the centre, blue banners with the Magic Council crest hanging from the ceiling and a huge arch shaped window at the end of the hall with an indoor garden at its base.

Gray and Juvia also stop and look at each other.

"It's alright Juvia, we'll find him and bring the guild back" Gray promises Juvia. She nods in response.

"Jura is just over on the other side of the room by the window, with Warrod" Mest informs Gray.

Gray turns to see both Wizard Saints conversing beside the garden under the massive wall sized window. He rushes to meet with the Wizard Saints, closely followed by Juvia.

"Gray Fullbuster, I was just talking about you earlier with Warrod" Jura says cheerfully.

"Nothing too bad, I hope" Gray jokes.

"What a cute girlfriend you have there? Where to I find one?" Warrod laughs.

Juvia blushes and clings to Gray's arm. Gray clears his throat.

"She's not my girlfriend. Have you guys found any leads on Zeref in the last week?" he asks.

Both Saints look at each other with a serious look.

"We're afraid not" Warrod replies with a more professional tone.

"We've read the statements from your battle against Tartaros. All we know is Zeref collected the book of END before you did, and then he vanished. Nothing since." Jura continues.

"Um... Do any of you know where Master Makarov might be?" Juvia asks the Saints.

"Baby Makarov?" Warrod laughs. "Not here, that's for sure. A lot of the Wizard Saints haven't arrived yet. It's just myself, Jura here and..." he continues before looking between Gray and Juvia.

They hear clicking footsteps behind them, like a woman's heels. The footsteps become louder and echo through the hall as the woman gets closer, until they stop right behind Gray.

"Ah, Miss Milkovich! How ice to see you" Warrod tries to say with a straight face before breaking into laughter seconds later.

"Leave the ice puns to a professional, Old Man" the woman replies.

Gray quickly spins to find a deep purple haired woman barely 40 years old wearing dark jeans, a light red singlet and a black silk kimono featuring the Magic Council's ankh crest on the back in gold stitching. Upon closer inspection Juvia also notices the woman is wearing a black stiletto heel on one foot while the other leg is crafted completely from ice. Juvia tilts her head to the side in confusion while just pointing at the woman's foot.

"Gray, you handsome young man. You haven't aged a day" she smiles with her hands on her hips. Gray shakes his head with a grin.

"Neither have you" he replies, walking up and giving her an enormous hug.

"To think you would lie to me..." she laughs, hugging him back.

Juvia interrupts in a fit of jealousy.

"Who is this woman Gray shows more affection towards!?"

"Juvia, this is Ur, my master from 18 years ago. She raised me after my parents were killed by a demon and she taught me Moulding Magic. I wouldn't have joined Fairy Tail if it wasn't for her. She introduced me to Gramps."

"Hello, Juvia" Ur says, inviting a handshake.

Juvia hesitantly shakes Ur's hand.

"Juvia thought you were a rival in love" she mumbles, turning away.

"Oh, not at all. My daughter was kidnapped and my other student sacrificed his life to protect the both of us" Ur continues. "I simply couldn't handle the thought of losing Gray too..."

Ur lowers her head and tightly closes her eyes, but not before a single tear makes its way down her cheek.

"So I brought Gray to Fiore to join Makarov's guild. Your master and I are close friends, and he goes so far to protect you children" she sobs.

Juvia can't help but feel sorry for both Ur and Gray's past together, and the tragedy they both must share.

"Juvia, why don't you go chat with Levy?" Gray insists, clearing his throat. "I'd like to speak alone for a bit with the Saints."

"Levy!?" Juvia asks Gray with a confused look.

Gray turns her around to see Levy, Gajeel and Pantherlily at the entrance to the hall speaking to Mest. They must have followed Gray and Juvia in from the city below. Hastily, she waves goodbye to Ur while running over to her friends. Ur exhales and smiles.

"She likes you" Ur says to Gray, wiping her eyes.

"I know..." he sighs.

"Hmm? Then why aren't you two together? Don't you like her?" she inquires.

"You too, huh? Ugh, it's not that I don't like her. I think she's nice and stuff. Why else would I keep her around? Our magic works well together and we've done a unison raid..."

Ur raises an eyebrow and nods, impressed by Juvia.

"Thing is, it's just the way she tells me she likes me all the time. It's so overwhelming and constant. At times the things she does to be closer to me are pretty weird or creepy" he explains.

"You should have seen me at her age" Ur chuckles. "Before I had Urtear I wasn't much different to Juvia. Passion is a key part of Moulding Magic. You're only as strong as your imagination..." she lectures Gray, flicking his forehead. "...and your emotions" placing her hand over his heart.

"Don't worry about me" Gray smiles, lifting Ur's hand off his chest. "I found my shape. You're a great master."

Ur smiles back before looking to the ground between them.

"Warrod and I have something to tell you. We need your help. It's about Lyon. Precht Gaebolg thinks he can bring Lyon back..." she confides.


	3. Fighting Your Inner Demons

**I** **do not own the rights to Fairy Tail or it's characters. This fan fiction is an original chain of events following the story of Gray and Juvia based within the time Natsu left for training with a slight change to Gray's past.**

"Wait, what?! You mean Hades is alive?" Gray shouts.

"I promise, I was just as surprised as you when I saw him" Ur defends herself.

"He just walked in the front doors about two days ago" Warrod interrupts. "I hadn't seen him for 60 years. He's looking pretty old now."

"Honestly, I was ready for a fight, but he explained everything to me. He told me he studied the forbidden art of resurrection for 30 years to bring back the first master of Fairy Tail" she explains.

"Mavis..." Warrod sighs.

"He said because of that knowledge he always had a plan to resurrect himself if he ever died in battle." Ur continues. "He did in fact die off Tenrou Island, but the Nine Demon Gates traveled there to look for Zeref, and instead found Precht's soul. Keyes collected it, and Precht couldn't resurrect himself until you defeated their guild. He explained to me his encounter with Zeref, and convinced me he had changed for the better."

"So what does he have to do with bringing Lyon back? Hades is going to use his resurrection magic?" Gray inquires.

"The truth is I've always wanted to give Lyon a second chance at life. Lyon isn't dead, Gray. Lyon is the ice that seals Deliora."

Gray shakes his head in disbelief.

"Four years ago with the help from some other mages I was able to transport Deliora from Burago to Galuna Island. You were gone, Gray, for seven years. I lost you too..." Ur claims before starting to cry. "I waited to meet someone who could bring Lyon back after we melted the ice. I was desperate enough to turn to dark mages for help."

"Wait, Iced Shell can't melt. You know that" Gray interrupts.

"Galuna Island, or the Isle of Friendly Demons, houses a special kind of magic unique to the island" Jura informs Gray.

"Right, I remember. The Moon Drip dispell magic. The old Magic Council thought dumping the demon refugees there would cure them of their mutation. Deliora is a monster though. He killed my parents! You're just going to set it free?" Gray shouts.

"Gray, please..." Warrod steps in. "Deliora has been sealed in ice for almost 18 years. Nobody thinks it should have survived being suspended that long."

"But that's why I'm asking for your help, Gray" Ur begs. "Meet with Precht and oversee the Moon Drip, just in case. You're the only Demon Slayer we know exists, so if anyone can stop Deliora it'll be you. Please?"

Gray clenches his fists. This is how it all ends. Deliora is the demon that ruined his life, and now Gray has the power to destroy Deliora once and for all. Fight or not, this will give him the closure he's spent his life looking for.

"I'll do it, but not for you or Lyon. I'm doing it for my family. I hope you can trust Hades" he replies.

"Promise me you'll be safe, Gray" Ur asks, placing her hand on Gray's cheek and pulling him in for a final hug. "Speak to Mest. He will help you get there."

Gray nods, and walks away towards the ex-Fairy Tail members. Between his traumatic childhood and all the encounters with Zeref; the creator of Deliora, Gray is finally going to see the Demon of Destruction; the monster that turned him into the man he is today.

He approaches the group of Fairy Tail's mages and Levy stands on her toes to wave at Gray over everyone's head. Everyone else also turns to Gray.

"Hey guys, keeping busy?" he asks.

"It's great news" Juvia squeals. "Levy and Gajeel just bought a house."

"Really!?" Gray laughs. "With what money?"

"Cool it, Ice Princess!" Gajeel roars.

"Shut it, Tin Man!" Gray calls back.

Pantherlily crosses his arms and enthusiastically watches the men bicker.

"They spent every jewel" Juvia continues. "That's why they're here, hoping to find work."

"Do you have water between the ears, woman? Shut up!" Gajeel bellows.

"You!? Work for the Council? That'll be the day" Gray laughs.

"Fuck off" Gajeel pouts before storming over to the three Wizard Saints.

Gray stands beside Juvia and turns to the others.

"Listen, it's been good to chat again, but Juvia and I just got a mission" he says to Levy and Lily.

"Going to Galuna?" Mest asks.

"Yeah" Gray replies. "So you know then?"

"I was one of the mages that helped move the ice across the continent" he answers proudly.

Levy looks confused at how vague Gray and Mest are speaking about their mission.

"Are you ready to go?" Mest asks, making sure Gray is prepared. Gray nods.

"Let's go!" Juvia confirms.

"Good luck, you two" Pantherlily smiles as he turns and follows Gajeel.

"Come visit when you're done! You're always welcome to our home" Levy giggles.

Mest places his hands on each mage's shoulder and Gray quickly reaches down, grabbing Juvia by the hand. She gasps, and in only an instant everything flashes before the three of them until they realize they're on a beach at the edge of a large Island, feeling like they haven't moved at all.

"I can't stay" Mest says regrettably. "I need to make sure all the Ten Wizard Saints reach the summit in Era. No time to waste. Make sure everything goes right" he encourages Gray before vanishing into thin air.

They both look around. There are high cliffs around the beach and forests leading into the island. Juvia notices a giant beam of purple light in the midnight sky connecting the moon and a nearby temple. She nudges Gray, and they both begin running blindly into the forest ahead of them.

Keeping up with each other they hurdle stones and weave through trees until they enter an opening revealing the star filled sky and the moon overhead.

"The temple!" Gray points as he sees a structure over the tree line collecting the light.

"So what mission are we on?" Juvia asks as the couple proceed through the dark of night and advance towards the temple.

"We're just prospecting. Making sure nothing goes wrong here tonight" Gray replies.

"What sort of things could go wrong? What's making that bright light?" she continues.

"Ur moved a very big demon to this island. It's called Deliora; the Demon of Destruction. It's the monster that killed my family" he growls. "Hades is here; the second guild master of Fairy Tail we fought on Tenrou island. Apparently he's a master of resurrection, and he's using the Moon Drip to release Deliora and resurrect Lyon; the boy who sacrificed hi self to seal Deliora in ice."

They both stop at the foot of the temple. The building is centuries old, but still completely intact. Upon arriving and navigating their way inside after a few minutes, they find a large room with tribal paintings on the walls. In the centre of the room they find yet another familiar face.

"Mirajane!" Juvia squeals as she runs towards the eldest of the Strauss siblings.

"Hey guys!" she says waving her hand. "You're here for the demon Deliora too?"

"What are you doing here?" Gray asks as Juvia wraps her arms around Mirajane.

"The demon, silly. Warrod, as a fellow member of Fairy Tail, reached out to me and told me about all this" she explains.

"It sounds like it should be a classified mission if you ask me" Gray says.

"I think so too" she continues. "But I'm an exception. I'm here to devour Deliora's soul for my Satan Soul takeover magic" she says tilting her head to the side with a smile.

"That's pretty spooky" Juvia announces while releasing Juvia from her hug. "So, would Gray beat Mirajane in a fight? Being a Demon Slayer, I mean" she asks.

Gray and Mirajane just turn away from each other breaking eye contact, as if to know the answer already. Suddenly, the temple begins to shake.

"What's going on!?" Juvia shouts.

"It's the ice. It's melting!" Mirajane shouts back over the rumbling below.

"Where is Hades?" Gray asks.

"Follow me!" Mirajane calls out, instructing everyone towards a doorway behind her leading deeper into the temple. As Gray and Juvia catch up to Mirajane the floor cracks and tilts the room.

"Nobody move!" Gray shouts as the three mages stand in a close triangle.

The rumbling underneath the temple continues and intensifies, destroying the room further. The cracks in the floor extend and circle the mages.

"Screw it, jump!" he orders everyone, and as he takes a single step the floor collapses dragging everyone down.

Juvia begins to scream as the temple gives way around them and they fall further underground. The falling rubble tears apart the floors below and opens up a large cavern dozens of meters deep, tunnelling into the darkness.

"Satan Soul!" Mirajane calls as the transforms mid-air into one of her many demon forms.

Her black wings fan out and she reaches out with her yellow demon gauntlets to catch Gray and Juvia from falling. The temple's debris falls around them as Mirajane slowly lowers everyone closer to the base of the cavern. Juvia stops screaming and begins to notice the features below her.

Precht is standing with his arms spread out before the towering frozen grave of Deliora. Large boulders and chunks of rock crash into the ground around him, but Precht stands tall remaining unfazed by the chaos around him. The block of ice trapping the demon is being hit with the concentrated purple light of the moon through a small series of holes in the ceiling as the ice slowly melts to water.

"More Fairy Tail wizards! I was told I could expect you, Demon Slayer" he shouts, keeping his view fixed on the Deliora.

Ice begins to crack as chunks fall into the water below creating small waves in the shallow water. The mages descend and step into ankle high water flooding the caves and run over to reach Precht. The purple light fades away and the rumbling dies down

"This is it, children. You came at just the right time. Hopefully I can begin my work immediately" Precht grins.

The ice shatters with a huge CRACK! The ice breaks away from the body of Deliora exposing the demon's face, torso and arms. It had been technically 11 years since Gray last saw Deliora. He'd forgotten how it looked.

As the ice stops cracking open and crashing into the shallow water below, everyone stands and waits in anticipation. The top half of Deloira was completely free, but the demon wasn't moving.

"Alright, I guess it really is dead" Mirajane claims as she once more fans out her wings and flies toward the body of the demon.

Suddenly Deliora opens its eyes. They glow red and lock onto Mirajane.

"Mirajane, Look out!" Juvia screams.

Deliora raises it's right hand and lowers it above Mirajane. Promptly, Precht casts Chain Magic, throwing a glowing chain with a dart on the end. The dart spears Mirajane in the back and he uses that to yank her out of the way of Deliora's hand. Unable to feel the pain of being impaled by Precht's dart, Mirajane tumbles through the air and crashes into the ground beside Juvia. Water splashes everywhere and the magic chain disappears, disconnecting Precht from Mirajane.

"There's no time to waste, children. Attack!" he commands.

"Ice Devil's Zeroth Destruction Bow!" Gray shouts as he strips off his coat, bag and shirt revealing half of his body becoming engulfed in black markings. A large bow and arrow appear in his hands and he lines up a shot on Deliora.

Mirajane stands up and flies into the air again as Juvia falls to her knees and liquifies into the water below. Several hundred water clones of Juvia immediately emerge from the water and crowd around Deliora.

"Amaterasu; Formula 28!" Precht also shouts as he makes a hand gesture creating a seal with dark magic.

Runes appear to circle around Deliora as it is struck with a large vertical purple beam of dark magic. The thick dark energy engulfs the demon and looks similar enough to the Moon Drip used to free the demon in the first place, but as the magic fades it shows Delora unfazed by the attack.

Mirajane holds out her arm and charges for an attack. All the countless water clones fire a barrage of high pressure water cannons, staggering the demon. Mirajane fires a heavy beam of magic from both hands, hitting Deliora in the chest and blasting a small but visible chunk from the demon's torso like a chip from a block of stone. The demon is hardly affected and retaliates by trying to swat her out of the air again with it's right hand. Gray releases the ice arrow as it flies at the speed of light through the air and pierces Deliora in the same arm, stopping it's attack against Mirajane.

Deliora leans back and roars before charging a large mass of energy in it's mouth.

"Not so fast!" Gray shouts as he clicks his finger.

The arrow in Deliora's arm explodes into a massive spiked ball of ice several hundred meters in diameter, blasting it's right arm clean off from the elbow. The giant hand crashes into the ground and Deliora starts to flail about.

In the recoil of Gray's attack the powerful beam of concentrated magic shoots across the room and cuts through the cavern walls in the distance. Still firing the beam, Deliora redirects it's attack and targets the ex-Fairy Tail members. It's attack carves through the cavern making its way towards Precht

"Get out of the way!" Mirajane orders Precht.

Quick to react, he stands his ground and crafts a magic shield to absorb Deliora's attack. The beam of energy drives over Precht and creates a loud static cracking noise as it pushes against Precht's magic shield.

Flames erupt from anything the beam of energy makes contact with, filling the cave with fire. Juvia quickly resolves the situation by sending the water clones scattered throughout the caverns to extinguish the flames instead of attacking the demon.

Deliora's beam dissolves and a thin layer of smoke sits above the ankle high water.

Hades took the full grunt of Deliora's strongest attack but doesn't emerge from the smoke below. There is no evidence he survived the attack.

The demon roars once more as the ice restraining it's feet begins to crack and fall off the demon. Mirajane hovers above Deliora charging two more ranged attacks in each hand. Every Juvia water clone dissolves back into the water and one final giant water clone emerges from the depths of the cavern matching Deliora in size. A humongous transparent copy of Juvia towers over everybody else in the battle and staggers toward for Deliora, walking and swaying as if she was possessed or violently unhinged.

"You will pay for what you did to Gray" the towering Juvia clone growls with a soft but hostile tone.

The giant Juvia with a swift leap grabs Deliora's face with both hands and pushes the demon back.

Deliora tumbles over and it's feet break free of the ice. Juvia's giant clone clutches Deliora by it's throat and pins it against a nearby cavern wall. Deliora reacts by swiping at Juvia with it's remaining hand, but the demon's hand phases through the water clone's body.

Mirajane unleashes her charged attack firing two beams at Deliora, but that only chips away at the demon's body.

"This isn't enough!" Mirajane calls out. "We need a stronger attack!"

"Juvia!" Gray shouts in response to Mirajane. "I need your help! Be ready for me" he announces.

"Juvia is the water..." the giant Juvia mutters with a voice that echoes through the cavern.

Gray nods and plunges his hands into the water below him. The water seemingly defies gravity by wrapping up Gray's forearms like tentacles. He closes his eyes for a brief second and takes a deep breath.

Deliora lets out another roar and starts to gather more energy in it's mouth, turning it's head to Mirajane who is flying nearby.

Gray opens his eyes and they glow red with Demon Slayer magic.

"I can't do this without you, Juvia..." he whispers. "Unison Raid!" he bellows as his voice fills the cavern.

Juvia's clone turns to Gray as his magic dilutes into the water.

"Ice Devil's Liquid Titan!"

The giant water Juvia's hands begin to freeze over and Juvia notices she has a lot more power flowing through the water with Gray's Ice Devil magic inside her. Deliora finishes charging for an attack and begins to fire once more in Mirajane's direction. She closes her eyes and flinches but only hears a huge CRASH!

She opens her eyes again to see Deliora's head crushed between the cavern back wall and the water giant's ice gauntlet. Deliora's attack defuses as it's head peels from a crater behind the demon. Deliora's face crumbles a little from the punch it recieved with Demon Slayer ice. The gauntlet falls off Juvia's hand and turns into snow drifting slowly into the water below as she steps back from the Demon of Destruction.

"You will never ruin another family again..." she declairs. "You will pay! Water Slicer!"

Having enough magic to access to Juvia's conventional set of attacks, she slashes at Deliora with a barrage of giant scale water blades each carving and digging into the demon's body at high speed. Juvia knows she has won this battle, and she has avenged Gray. She pauses and looks to Gray who is on his hands and knees in the shallow water fueling Juvia with his Demon Slayer and Ice Make magic.

Deliora lets out another roar and Juvia quickly turns back to see Deliora charging a final beam as a last resort. She materializes a massive greatsword with length matching both Deliora and giant Juvia in height. She clutches it with both hands and lowers it to point at the one-armed demon's chest.

"You won't kill ever again..." she announces before driving the Demon Slayer ice sword through the torso of Deliora and pinning it to the wall behind it. "I won't let you!!"

Deliora now turns to Gray for it's attack as he cannot move away during the Unison Raid's connection. Giant Juvia roars as she pulls the sword upward using raw strength, carving the sword through the stone wall and slicing Deliora in half from the center of the body upward.

Deliora's charged attack flickers and disappears as Juvia slices the Demon of Destruction in half and pulls the sword through Deliora's neck and head.

She releases the sword as it remains pinned into the wall behind Deliora. The one-armed demon collapses to it's knees as the upper half of it's body peels in half like a banana skin and proceeds to crumble away into dust.

Giant Juvia collapses also into a wave water and merges once again with the pool below. Waves ripple past Gray, knocking him onto his side as he shakes with exhaustion. Mirajane flies down beside him and helps Gray keep his head above the water.

"Gray!? Gray!" she cries, trying to keep him conscious.

Juvia bursts out of the water non-transparent and full of colour nearby and hurries over.

"How is he?" Juvia asks, dropping to her knees beside Mirajane.

"Not good. He won't stop shivering..." Mirajane replies.

"He's used up too much magic. We need to get help or it will only get worse" Juvia claims.

"How do you know?" Mirajane inquires.

"When I was with the Element 4 there was a mage named Aria who used a magic called Metsu to drain magic from strong mages. They all looked like this. If Gray doesn't get help, he could die! I've seen this all before..."


	4. The Isle Of Friendly Demons

**I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail or it's characters. This fan fiction is an original chain of events following the story of Gray and Juvia based within the time Natsu left for training with a slight change to Gray's past.**

"We need to find help, fast! Gray said there was a village on this island. Do you know where it is?" Juvia asks Mirajane as she reaches over and places the back of her hand on Gray's cheek.

He continues to shiver and sweat from lack of magical energy flowing through his body. Gasping for air, the black markings of Gray's demon force fade from his body. Mirajane stutters and looks up at the collapsed ceiling to observe the layout of the rooms above.

"Um... yeah. The town is that way" she points. "It would be a fifteen minute walk from the outside. Do you need me to fly him there?" she asks, trying to be more helpful.

"Thanks, but no. Juvia needs to do this. You look for Hades and do... whatever it is you do to demon souls" Juvia responds.

Mirajane nods and both women stand up. Juvia wraps Gray's arm around her shoulder and carries him onto the ice rubble that once contained Deliora; the Demon of Destruction. Mirajane reverts out of her Satan Soul and wanders around looking for a sign of Precht who was assigned by Ur Milkovich to resurrect Lyon.

"Stay safe!" Juvia calls out to Mirajane.

"You too. You were really strong and scary just then" Mirajane replies.

Juvia looks straight up through the series of holes in the ceiling that once allowed the Moon Drip to enter the cavern under the temple. The water flooding the room form a platform under Juvia's feet and lifts both her and Gray above the arena until they surface above the temple exterior through the gaping hole in the top of the building. She looks in the direction Mirajane had instructed her to travel and notices a small circular village in the darkness of the night lit up with torches and fire surrounded by a high wooden wall. Juvia hurries down the side of the temple and carries Gray in the direction of help.

By the time Juvia reaches the village Gray is completely unconscious and motionless from exhaustion. She carries him to the edge of the village and stops before the high wooden wall that stands between her and the town. Looking around, Juvia spots silhouettes on the top of the wall of what could be village scouts or soldiers.

"Please, I need your help!" Juvia calls out.

"Hey! What are you doing here!?" one shouts as they all draw bows and arrows on her.

"I'm sorry, but I need your help now! We came from the temple..." Juvia explains before being interrupted.

"The temple? You came here with the other man, Precht? He came to release the demon. I heard the fight from here with the demon that was kept underground. If you are here then that means you defeated it?" the figure utters as they quickly descend the wooden wall from the inside.

"Please, that doesn't matter! We're in trouble! He will die without your help! Hurry!" she begins to cry.

She drops to her knees as Gray flops on the ground beside her. She grabs him by the hand and continues to sob. After a few moments Juvia hears bolts unlocking and the wall opens up to reveal a path leading through to the centre of a ring shaped village. Standing in the gateway into town is a slim man holding a spear wearing a helmet and unrefined slabs of metal armour.

The illusive man slowly emerges from the darkness cluching his weapon and steps closer to Juvia who is silently crying beside Gray. She looks up to the man and wipes her eyes to see he is horrifically disfigured. The man has short horns on his forehead and blue scales running down his cheeks and forearms. Her heart stops for a second in fear distracting her from Gray's condition, until she remembered what he had told her. Juvia recalls Gray mentioning a town of people on an island who were cursed and mutated by Zeref.

"T-t-th... That's..." the man stutters while staring down at Gray before dropping his weapon and sprinting back into the network of huts in the village.

"No!" Juvia screams. "Don't leave us!"

She collapses onto Gray as she rests her head on his chest. His skin is hot and sweaty, but Juvia still cuddles up to him. She is scared that he will never wake from his fever, but she will do anything to keep the love of her life from dying.

The night suddenly grows even darker and Juvia is quick to notice. She looks up to the sky to see the purple moon and all the stars have disappeared and been replaced with clouds that hang over the village. A gentle shower begins as the torches around town fight against the light rain.

Juvia hears whispers and notices she is being watched by dozens of residents of the village hiding in shadows and behind corners from inside the wall.

"Please, can't anyone help him? I need medicine and clean water. Does anyone know healing magic?" she shouts with tears running down her face. She is no longer as scared for Gray as she is angry and desperate for assistance.

"Of course we can help!" the deep voice of an older man calls out from the whispers.

A short man with pointy ears and large horns emerges from the distance within the walls. He waddles over to Gray and Juvia using a walking stick and is followed by other villagers. The short man has purple skin and long white sideburns that flow halfway down the length of his body.

"Forgive us if we frighten you, dear. We are the demon villagers of Galuna Island, and you are always welcome for removing Deliora from our home" the old man assures her.

Juvia looks up in confusion. The croud of villagers all look intimidating with their horns, tails and claws but Juvia doesn't allow her fear to show. The old man crouches beside Gray and places his skinny purple hand on Gray's forehead. The purple demon's eyes light up suddenly.

"So it's true, Gray has returned to us..." he smiles enthusiastically.

Thunder cracks in the storm clouds as the rain continues to pour even heavier. Juvia raises her head and looks up to the sky then down to the old man. Her hair curls up in tight locks from being wet by the rain.

"Who are you?" she stutters.

The villagers behind the man all begin quietly muttering Gray's name. They approach Gray and lift him from underneath Juvia. She begins to panic, reaching for Gray's hand.

"Please, we must do what we can to help him. What happened in the temple?" the purple man asks.

"He has a fever from losing too much magic..." she replies, hesitantly letting go of Gray. The villagers carry him into the walls of the demon village while the old man remains with Juvia.

"Gray and I fought with the demon under the temple. We were supposed to protect Hades..." she explains to the old man.

"He is safe here. I will explain everything. I am Moka; chief of the Friendly Demons. We have met Gray once before. He is the Demon Savior!" Moka claims.

Juvia immediately finds the irony in a Demon Slayer being called the Demon Saviour. As the villagers carry Gray inside the village walls the rain suddenly becomes less intense as he is finally receiving attention. Juvia is curious to learn about how a village of demons came to know Gray as a savior. Moka; the old man, looks up to the rain clouds and sighs.

"Eight years ago on the southern coast of Fiore we first met Gray. He was investigating why we all transformed into demons..." he explains.

"So, you were all once human?" Juvia asks.

"Yes" Moka sighs. "We were being mutated by an ancient relic kept in a vault underground where we once lived our lives. Gray destroyed it and rescued us from changing any further" he continues, looking back down to Juvia. "We were saved because of Gray and the council."

"The old council? I'm sorry to say, but they've been..." Juvia says before choking up.

"I heard from Precht when he came here only days ago. The Magic Council were all killed by demons. I promise you, we are not like that. We are peaceful We still have our humanity. The council moved us so we would not be targeted for our differences back on Fiore, but also so the Moon Drip could cure us. It has been eight years, but there are signs the Moon Drip is working. Our scales are disappearing, and we have bred the mutation out" Moka smiles as his eyes begin to tear up. "My grandchildren can live a normal life, because Gray stopped the curse back then. Now he has saved us again by stopping Deliora!"

"How do you know about Deliora?" Juvia asks.

"The demon was brought here by Lady Milkovich four years ago. As you would know, Deliora is not the same as the rest of us demon refugees. Deliora is the embodiment of raw destruction, and a real demon. I was told that eighteen years ago Deliora was sealed in a tomb of ice by a young boy who sacrificed his body and soul to protect his master."

"So that was Lyon..." Juvia mumbles, looking toward the temple.

"Correct, and his master was none other than Lady Milkovich; the ice mage who brought Deliora here. Precht's purpose was to melt the ice containing Deliora and revive the boy from the water that remained. I suppose he must have been pretty important to risk bringing Deliora back. Anyway..." he grunts as he uses the walking stick to stand himself up. "Welcome to the Isle of Friendly Demons. We will do everything we can to bring Gray back to full health. It's the least we could do to repay him."

Moka begins to slowly walk through the gate to the village, leading Juvia inside the walls. Juvia follows Moka down the wide path leading into the ring shaped village. Torches light the path ahead under the darkness of night and continue to flicker against the sudden wet weather.

"I'm sorry about the rain" Juvia apologises as why wipes her nose with her sleeve and sniffles. "I haven't felt like this for a very long time. Gray means everything to me..."

Moka stops in the middle of the village and bows his head.

"Gray is in the building there" he continues, pointing to a small wooden structure with a tall straw roof.

The building Gray is in has a number of demon villagers walking in and out with water and blankets. Moka reaches up and places his frail hand on Juvia's shoulder.

"The best you and I can do for him now is meditate" he suggests.

"What do you mean?" Juvia responds.

"Gray is lacking magical energy. Enough of us meditating will draw in Ethernano from the environment, and create a pocket of magical power over the village. This should help cure Gray's fever" he smiles.

She looks Moka in the eyes and nods. The old man shakes as he lowers himself to the ground in a cross legged position. He puts his cane down beside him, closes his eyes and places his hands in his lap. Juvia looks around then sits down also. Facing Moka, she straightens her back and closes her eyes.

Both Juvia and Moka sit cross legged meditating in the light rain. After what feels like only a few minutes Juvia's thoughts are entirely drowned out by the sound of the rain around her. She is anchored to the weather produced by her emotions and lets herself slip deeper into meditation while all other sounds disappear.

She begins to remember the memories the rain had given her. The downpour had only given her pain and exclusion in the past. Throughout her life only Gray was able to stop the rain. She looked up to him as the sunshine in her life. Juvia felt warm around the ice mage.

As she thinks about this, the rain had slowly died down until it had stopped faster than Juvia could notice. She opens one eye to see around thirty other villagers had already joining in the meditation to help Gray. They were all immersed in deep thought working together to gather Ethernano. The sky was cloudy still, but the rain had stopped.

Juvia closed her eyes once more and focuses on Gray. She had made so many memories with him, but suddenly...

Juvia saw Gray from new eyes. She remembers Gray and Ur together, but Gray is only a child. These are not her memories of love. She feels cold and angry as Gray and Ur look to Juvia and smile. The three of them are on a mountain taking their clothes off. This memory doesn't make any sense. Juvia had never seen Ur before tonight. Her eyes twitch beneath her eyelids as she feels an overwhelming chill. Juvia starts to panic before hearing a voice in her head.

"Juvia is the water" a voice whispers, echoing around her in the silence.

She opens her eyes and looks around to see the most bizarre thing. There is snow falling from the clouds above the island instead of rain.

What was with the vision she just saw? Juvia looks down to her hands and sees her fingertips are becoming blue around her fingernails. Why is she so cold all of the sudden? She gets up among the crowd of meditating demons and runs over to the building where Gray is resting. Moka opens his eyes after hearing her move and looks over to Juvia as she runs away.

Juvia stands at the doorway of the building with a tall straw roof and sees Gray shirtless and alone wrapped in a thick blanket in a bed. There are is a bucket beside the bed with a wet sponge floating in it.

She crawls onto the same bed with her hands and knees propped on either side of Gray before flopping onto her side and landing beside him. Not wanting to make him cold, she wraps her arm around Gray but keeps herself from sneaking under the blanket with him. It seemed unfair to lay beside Gray without his consent, but she loves him and there is nowhere she would rather be. It was the first time she had ever spent the night with the real Gray, and not just a plush or pillow shaped like him. Juvia rests her head once more on Gray's chest and tightly squeezes him in his sleep. Her body suddenly began to warm up again beside Gray. She smiles and closes her eyes.

What suddenly caused the snow outside? Why was she suddenly so cold? She reflects on these memories as she drifts into sleep. Who's life was she remembering? What connection do they have with Gray?


	5. Lyon's Wish

**I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail or it's characters. This fan fiction is an original chain of events following the story of Gray and Juvia based within the time Natsu left for training with a slight change to Gray's past.**

Juvia slowly opens her eyes. Thin beams of sunlight pierce through the straw roof and into the tiny room. Standing beside the enterence to the hut is Moka with his hands behind his back.

"It's good to see both of our guests awake at last. You must have had an exhausting fight yesterday. It's already the afternoon" he chuckles.

Juvia lifts her head and looks up to see Gray glaring down at her. Their lips are only inches apart and their noses are practically touching.

"Oh?" she gasps as her face immediately becomes red with embarrassment.

She staggers and lifts herself off Gray, sitting up on her knees at the end of the bed. She was so close to kissing Gray, but she wasn't prepared for that so early after waking up. Juvia panicked under pressure.

"I... Juvia is sorry!" she stutters while trying not to blush further.

"Don't..." Gray sighs. "There was only one bed anyway" he continues as he sits up in the bed and stretches his arms.

Juvia sits there surprised at his response. Normally Gray would try to distance himself from her. His eyes are blank and seemingly look through Juvia, like he is busy thinking about something else.

"Sorry..." Moka interrupts as he reveals his purple hands from behind his back. "As you were asleep we were visited by a friend of yours. A demon lady came and dropped these off" he says, placing Gray's bag, button up shirt and white coat on the end of the bed beside Juvia.

"Mirajane... Where is she?" Gray demands, still looking tired.

"She flew out over the ocean during the night. It was very exciting meeting another human who takes the form of a demon, and one that flies no less. She said she could not find Precht, but she did find your clothes. We dried everything out during the morning for you while you slept. She said she was returning to the Magic Council to tell them about last night" he informs the couple.

"Do you think Hades abandoned his mission?" Juvia asks Gray.

"I doubt it. He might have just died in battle while none of us were looking. He's not invincible, after all" he replies.

Gray pulls the blanket off from over him and hangs his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Where do you think you're going!?" Juvia shouts as she leans in toward Gray. "You need to rest. You still look sick!"

"Chief Moka told me what you all did for me last night. I'd be a lot worse right now if there wasn't so much Ethernano around this island helping me recover faster" he grunts as he slowly stands up. "I want to thank everyone out there."

He stands tall and smiles. It suddenly made him look healthier than he actually was. Gray walked over between Moka and Juvia and picked up his shirt from the bed before sliding in his arms into the sleeves. Moka turns and walks outside into the village.

"Gray... last night, I..." Juvia confides before stopping mid sentence.

He looks to her with confusion as he buttons the shirt up. Juvia looks down to her lap and thinks about what she saw last night.

"Take it easy... okay?" she smiles, suddenly changing the direction of the conversation.

Gray chuckles to himself as he reaches for his coat and wears it over his shoulders with the sleeves dangle from the sides. There are black bags under his eyes that show Juvia he still needs plenty more sleep before he is really well.

"Thanks. I'll be fine. I'm just going outside to sit in the sun and talk" he assures her.

He steps outside and Juvia climbs off the bed to follow him. After walking outside the village looks so different to the way it did in the dark. Demon villagers are working and the children are out playing. The older kids have signs of the mutation, but younger children have clear skin and look like normal human kids. They must have been cured by the Moon Drip over the last eight years, but are still treated equally within their own community. It makes Juvia smile to see that the friendly demons can look beyond how someone looks and still treat them the same. She is then a little disgusted in herself for being so scared of the first demon refugee she saw.

Gray wanders through the town and mingles with the residents and shakes there hands. Juvia stands beside Moka who is watching Gray from a distance.

"Thank you again for helping Gray" she says.

"It is the least we could do for all he has done for us" Moka responds, keeping his eyes fixed on Gray.

"I don't know if you can help us more than you have" Juvia continues. "There is something wrong with me and my powers. It started when I came here to this village."

Moka turns and looks up to Juvia.

"We don't concern ourselves anymore with the nature of magic, I'm afraid. After all we have been through on the main continent, most of us older townsfolk welcome death. We have learned not to put our trust in magic. I don't know how you expect me to help you but the Moon Drip is a dispel magic. Maybe you will find your answers under the temple?"

Juvia looks at Moka as if he knows exactly what to do and had given her a straight answer. She nods and they both look to Gray once again, who is now using his magic to craft miniature ice sculptures to impress the children.

"If Gray asks where I am, tell him I will be back soon. I'm just going for a walk. Thank you, Moka" she thanks him.

The purple demon simply grunts as Juvia walks away beyond the wall of the village and marches into the forest toward the temple.

After roughly 40 minutes of walking and climbing, Juvia had found herself once more in the water filled depths of the cavern under the temple. She looks around to see humongous boulders of ice and stone debris littered everywhere. There is a giant sword of ice dozens of meters in length embedded in one stone wall as the sunlight glows against it from the holes in the ceiling. Looking to the other side of the cavern is a deep carving starting on the wall and finishing on the ground underwater from Deliora's energy beam that struck Precht. In the distance Juvia notices the giant amputated hand of Deliora that stayed intact while the rest of the demon crumpled away into dust.

She sits down in the shallow water and runs her fingers through the melted ice, watching it cause ripples throughout the giant cavern. As you would expect from water melted from ice, it was freezing to the touch. Could the Moon Drip cure Juvia of her new memories? Is she really even the victim of some sort of magic that's messing with her head?

She lays down in the ankle high water and relaxes. Resting in water always emptied her mind. Juvia closed her eyes and let the water consume her...

From the darkness within her mind she sees more images. More memories surface. She is standing beside Gray and Ur in the center of a town set on fire. Standing before the three of them is Deliora at the pinnacle of it's strength. The image fades and she is filled with new emotions. These feelings are directed at Gray, and they are somehow stronger than her own love. Juvia feels anger, jealously and pride. Another voice echoes in her head...

"Lyon lives in the water. Juvia is the water."

She quickly lifts her head out of the shallow water gasping for air. Her heart is racing and she doesn't know how to feel. Suddenly, she hears a familiar voice.

"I figured I would find you here!"

It's Gray standing behind her with his hands in his pockets. He is breathing heavily and still weak from last night. Juvia quickly gets to her feet and any feelings she used to have for Gray fades away.

"I think I just needed some fresh air. What are you doing back here?" he interrogates Juvia.

"Gray... who is stronger?" She inquires. "Who is stronger between Gray and Master Ur?"

"What are you talking about?" he asks Juvia, looking at her confused.

"Lyon wanted to learn from the strongest mage" she continues.

"Lyon?" Gray asks, eager to understand what's going on. "Where is all this coming from? Why do you want to know about Lyon?"

She starts walking towards him as she removes her coat and takes off her hat before dropping both into the water. She then raises both the arms up, grabbing the back of her singlet and pulls it over her head, wearing only her long blue open leg dress and a black bra.

"If you want to control the cold, you have to feel the cold" she whispers.

"This doesn't make any-" Gray says before being interrupted by Juvia.

"Ice Make Bullet!" she announces, standing side-on to Gray with her right arm reaching out and pointing to his face.

"Ice Make!?" Gray shouts, startled. He quickly raises both arms in front of himself to shield his face.

A chunk of ice is fired from Juvia's finger at high speed and it is followed by a loud clapping sound. Juvia lowers her hand and sees Gray holding the frozen bullet in the palm of his hand. He turns his hand around and inspects the ice, looking surprised.

"I guess that is you in there, Lyon. Well, that's too bad" Gray smiles before putting the ice in his mouth and crunching down on it. "Ice only makes me stronger!"

He suddenly gets a kick of energy and decides to counterattack. He raises his arm pointing forward and returns the same attack, firing an even larger ice projectile from his fingertip. As it strikes Juvia her body liquefies, allowing the ice bullet to pass through her.

"The water makes me untouchable" she scoffs. "Ice Make Sword!" She shouts, running towards Gray as a large blade of ice forms in her right hand.

She throws the sword at Gray while she continues to charge at him. As the sword spins through the air toward his head, he pushes his fist to his hand preparing for a moulding attack as he ducks to the side and weaves around the sword and it narrowly flies past him.

Juvia deconstructs her body into water as it splashes at Gray's feet. She instantly re-emerges from the water behind Gray, catching the sword in the air and swings it at him once more. Gray is surprised and impressed, and acting on instinct pulls his hands from each other and creates a sword of his own.

He wields it with both hands swinging it upwards and catching Juvia's blade as she continues to push down and put pressure on Gray.

"I've never seen you fight like this before" he tells her.

"Juvia must surpass Gray!" she declares.

"You don't need to prove anything!" He shouts back as he lifts her sword with his and throws his blade to the side, disarming both mages.

She takes a few steps backward with her arms spread apart in a t-pose before falling backward into the water behind her. She dilutes herself into the water and becomes invisible to Gray. He hears her voice echo throughout the entire cavern.

"Sierra..." she whispers as all the water around Gray quickly starts to boil.

"Not this again" he groans as steam begins to rise.

Gray plunges both hands into the water as the temperature continues to rapidly increase.

"Ice Make Geyser!" he shouts desperately as several pylons of ice shoot out of the shallow water, launching him into the air.

"There's no running from Juvia!" she announces as she leaps out from the water below. As a transparent body with a long tail of boiling water connecting her to the pool below, Juvia rises up the towers of ice towards Gray at high speed. He confidently waits for her on the high ground as the black markings on his arm cover his body once more.

Juvia swoops in on Gray from underneath and grabs him by the throat, suspending him up in the air by only her tall legless water body. Gray retaliates by plunging his black arm into her burning chest.

Gray closes is eyes tight and shouts in agonizing pain as she scorches his neck, but then he opens his eyes again, glowing red and staring right at Juvia. She flinches as the hot water forming her body begins to freeze.

"There's nowhere left to run..." he gasps as Juvia loosens her grip on Gray's neck. He falls back on the tower of ice directly below him with his arm remaining plunged into Juvia's chest.

All the water in the cavern begins to freeze over also, leaving Juvia nowhere left to hide. Juvia starts to tear up as colour returns to her body. The tail of water holding Juvia in the air breaks from her body as her legs return.

"Why did you do all this? How did you do it?" Gray roars.

"It was Lyon's wish" she replies with a shaking voice. "Somehow, Juvia remembers Deliora. Juvia remembers what Master Ur taught us..." she coughs as water spills from her mouth.

Gray just shakes his head in disappointment. Lyon was driven by jealousy and pride to sacrifice himself and stop Deliora. He wanted to prove his strength by stopping the monster Ur was too weak to defeat herself. Eighteen hears after his death he is still trying to prove he is stronger than Gray ever was.

"If you were really Ur's student, you would use both your hands to cast magic, just like she taught us!" he shouts. "You're always doing what you can to help people, Juvia, but you need to come back. I need my partner. I need YOU!"

With his arm still impaled into Juvia's chest he pulls her closer, putting his left hand on her cheek and leaning in towards her.

Juvia begins to tremble and her cheeks start to blush. Their lips touch gently and Juvia's body grows weak. Her whole face turns red with passion as she raises both her hands and presses all her fingertips against Gray's chest. They both close their eyes and hold the kiss as the towers of ice shrink down in size and lower the mages back into the frozen pool of water. Her feet touch the ice floor below them and she is no longer suspended in the air by Gray's arm in her frozen chest.

Juvia can't believe what's happening. She and Gray are finally kissing. It was only a matter of time in her mind. Does this actually mean that he loves her too? Her feelings of love and affection rush back to her at once, overpowering whatever was making her attack him.

Gray's fingertips on her cheek slowly runs back below her ear, follows her jawline, slides down her neck and finds there way onto Juvia's shoulder, giving her goosebumps all over her body. His grip tightens on her shoulder as he crudely rips his ice covered arm from her chest. Their kiss breaks as she collapses to the ground. Juvia coughs and starts breathing heavily. Gray looks down to her as her chest liquefies and reshapes itself, leaving her seemingly unharmed.

"I'm sorry, Juvia..." Gray says, crouching down with her as the Demon Force fades from his body. She starts to cry.

"Juvia is sorry too!" she sobs. "Juvia has memories that don't belong..."

"Let's find a way back to the council. We should at least tell Ur that we were able to find a part of Lyon. We have a chance to revive him now, and we can teach you how to use Ice Make the way Ur taught me" Gray suggests.

"Really!?" Juvia cheers, as she sniffles and wipes the tears from her eyes. Gray smiles back.

He stands back up and walks past Juvia as she rests on the icy ground gaining her composure. Eventually stopping, Gray looks around and stomps his foot. The ice below him shatters into little shards creating a shallow crater. He plunges his hand in the frozen rubble and pulls out Juvia's clothes that were frozen underneath.

"Boiling water... I remember that's how you tried to kill me the first day we met."

Gray chuckles before hissing at the scorch marks left on his neck by Juvia. She quickly gets up and runs over to him.

"Let Juvia help!" she begs. "Juvia is sorry."

She stands in front of him as her hand becomes cool and transparent, touching his throat. Her touch is cold enough to even make Gray shiver. The swelling and red markings begin to disappear, leaving only faint scars behind. Breathing heavily and with her heart racing, she leans into Gray as her hands run down from his neck to his chest. She closes her eyes and kisses Gray above his collarbone over the remaining burn scars.

"Juvia!" Gray clears his throat. "I know that's not how you heal people. That's enough" he says uncomfortably, turning his head and pulling away from her.

She looks down, smiling and blushing.

"That kiss was to help you snap out of it. You aren't Lyon" he emphasizes, passing Juvia her clothes.

"Juvia was confused. It won't happen again. Juvia wants to fight like Gray" she assures him, shaking the ice crystals from her coat and putting her clothes back on.

"We should get back to Ur if you ever want to learn the way I did" he replies. "After all, she was my teacher."

Ready to leave Galuna Island, Gray and Juvia return once more to the friendly demons and request a boat back to Fiore. Now feeling safe without the threat of Deliora underground, the villagers help the mages return to Hargeon Town before the end of that same night. Another whole day of travel brings the couple to the front doors of the Magic Council once more as they get ready to debrief Ur on the mission.

As the two mages walk into the Magic Council halls they are intercepted yet again by Mest; the council's loyal watchdog.

"Gray! Juvia! Ur had been expecting you sooner after Mirajane returned the other night. Follow me" he instructs the couple, leading them to the Wizard Saints in the grand hall.

Upon walking in they notice the hall is occupied by many more saints. Warrod was no longer there, but most of saints were now in the room. Gray was suprised to count six of the Ten seated around the long table; Ur, Jura, Wolfheim, Draculos, Jellal and Erza.

It seems that after Erza was promoted to a Wizard Saint after stopping Jellal at the Tower Of Heaven she landed a comfortable position in the Magic Council after Fairy Tail disbanded. As for Jellal, he was sent to trial at some point during the seven years that Fairy Tail disappeared for his crimes against humanity. Both Ur and her daughter Urtear helped defend Jellal and bring attention to a conspiracy where he was being manipulated by Precht to resurrect Zeref, who nobody knew at the time was still alive. Jellal was found innocent and reinstated the title of a Wizard Saint, and has once again found himself in the Magic Council.

"Ur!" Mest calls out as all six saints turn and look up at Gray and Juvia.

Ur pulls her chair back from the council table and stands. Juvia smiles and waves to Erza, who smiles and waves back to Juvia. Ur walks over to Gray as her ice sculpture leg clicks against the waxed floor with every step.

"I hear things didn't go exactly to plan" she says to Gray with disappointment. "Mirajane came by two days ago and told us what happened. Deliora woke up after all, Precht has disappeared and you almost died!" she continues as she shoves Gray with her left arm, subtly punishing him for scaring her.

Gray steps back and grabs onto Juvia's hand.

"That's the least of your problems now... Juvia found a way for Lyon to live" Gray assures Ur quite vaguely.

"Wait, really!?" Ur cries as she reaches out and puts her hands on Juvia's shoulders.

"It's not what..." Juvia says quietly before stopping.

"She somehow got Lyon's memories during the fight with Deliora..." Gray explains. "Of all the memories she gained, she knows the basics of Maker Magic!"

"I..." Juvia blushes.

Ur slowly removes her hands from Juvia's shoulders speechless by the news. She cannot properly comprehend what she is hearing.

"Lyon's body is gone, but Juvia is somehow sharing her mind with him" he continues.

"I want to finish learning Ice Make Magic!" Juvia shouts as she bows her head to Ur. "I want to be your third student."

"She has a long way to go" Gray says as he clenches his fist and raises his left arm. "She only uses one hand to fight!"

Ur stares at Juvia with tears in her eyes.

"That's just like Lyon" she giggles as she remembers eighteen years ago. "Why did you bring her to me though? She could learn from you."

Gray lets go of Juvia's hand and looks to her.

"She remembers you as her teacher. I think it's your job to finish what you started" he jokes. "At the same time, while she is studying Ice Make with you, I can train my Demon Slayer magic. I couldn't fight Deliora without Juvia's help. I need to be better if I ever want a chance to defeat END or any other real demons!"

Juvia blushes again and looks to Gray.

"I'm sorry Juvia for not saying anything sooner, but this is where we part ways. I'll be back when I'm stronger. I promise..." he assures her.

Juvia stares up at Gray. She begins to cry and hugs him.

"I don't want you to go!" she sobs. "Why?"

"You have more than enough support here to be a great ice mage. Being Ur's student, I wouldn't be suprised if she trained you to become a better maker than me!" Gray laughs as he puts his hand on Juvia's cheek and looks down to her. "I believe you can make something beautiful. Find your shape."

Ur smiles, remembering when she told Gray the same thing. Juvia slowly releases her grip on Gray's hand and lets him go. She wants to be with him so bad, but she will stay with Ur because it is what Gray wants. He takes his hand off Juvia's cheek and nods to Ur before walking away.

"Wait!" a voice echoes through the grand hall as one of the chairs by the table screeches against the floor.

Gray turns to see Erza standing at the table pointing at him.

"I have a mission for you, Fullbuster!" she announces.

"I'm done working for the council" he sighs.

"Er... The summit won't be held until all the saints are present. Until then, We are still independent mages. Erza is a Saint, but not officially the council" Mest interrupts.

"I'll be training! Leave me alone, and find someone else" Gray calls back.

"It'll bring you closer to Zeref!" Jellal announces from one of the other seats at the table without looking up. "I'm sure it's also the kind of job you might enjoy doing."

"Finding Zeref is no joke! There's nothing to enjoy! I'll be back when I'm ready!" Gray snaps.

He continues to walk outside to begin his training as a Demon Slayer. He doesn't know how long he will be gone, or where he will go. All he knows is he needs to be strong enough to kill END and that Juvia is safe with Ur.

He steps out into the night and overlooks the ringed city of Era underneath him as it glows in the darkness of the evening. Juvia runs out after him and grabs onto the doorway to the Magic Council building. The light breeze collects her hair and makes it dance in the wind.

"Gray! I... I love you!" she cries.

Gray, with his back turned to her acknowledges Juvia's confession. After a short pause, he firmly gives his response.

"I know..." he mutters, before he continues marching forward.


End file.
